


Tension

by Kammy



Series: TG Femslash Week [4]
Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Classical Singing, F/F, Late work, Vocal master classes can get kind of handsy at times, master class, not smut but very very sensual, opera - Freeform, tg femslash week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-24
Updated: 2016-02-24
Packaged: 2018-05-23 01:37:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6100576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kammy/pseuds/Kammy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rize had been to master classes before, and she wasn't uncomfortable with teachers putting their hands on her to help ease her singing. Somehow, though, it had never been quite this thrilling.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tension

**Author's Note:**

> For Cealestial, on tumblr.
> 
> I feel like this is smut. It's not smut, but it *feels* like smut. Now I'm embarrassed.

Rize had gone to at least six master classes already, and knew the set up like the back of her hand: walk up, say your name, perform your aria onstage, and work with a professional singer in front of the audience. This wasn’t her first one, and it wouldn’t be her last.

However, it would likely be her only master class with Takatsuki Sen, an operatic star who had taken the world by the storm at the tender age of nineteen. Rize’s own personal favorite soprano, in fact.

She felt a bit of a jump in her chest as her turn came, but she shook it off. Young and inexperienced she may be, but no one could ever accuse her of losing her composure like a starstruck tween. She strode onstage, lifting her head confidently. She was beautiful and graceful—and as they clapped she knew it. She’d done this enough to know.

Takatsuki was watching from the front row. Even onstage, Rize could see a tiny smile hovering over her lips.

Rize took a deep breath, and the soft notes of the piano wafted behind her. As she sang her first note, she felt butterflies in her gut.

 

* * *

 

Clapping, again. The song had finished. Rize smiled, and bowed, not thinking of how shrill that one phrase had sounded to her, or how she’d been running out of breath towards the end. Takatsuki was already up on stage, clapping herself.

“Wonderful job,” she said. “And what a beautiful smile!”

Rize hadn’t noticed she’d been smiling, but she nodded gracefully at the compliment. Takatsuki was already walking over. She was wearing five inch heels—the bane of any classical singer, but of course Takatsuki wore them anyway.

“Your voice is so beautiful. How old are you?”

“Nineteen,” Rize responded.

“Amazing. Your voice is so developed for your age. Can we get another round of applause for her?”

The audience was happy to oblige, cheering loudly again. Rize didn’t acknowledge it, hardly heard it even.

Takatsuki stepped right up to her. Rize couldn’t help herself: her eyes flashed, taking her in, looking up and down. She saw the deep red of Takatsuki’s lipstick, the slope of her shoulders, the curve of her wrists. Even in heels, Takatsuki was so tiny and delicate. Standing next to her made Rize feel like a hulking beast, made her aware of her broad shoulders and the thickness of her arms.

Takatsuki caught her gaze again, and smiled.

“Alright,” she said. Rize looked up again, and Takatsuki was adjusting her glasses. “Would you mind singing the first phrase again?”

Rize nodded, and turned out to the audience. Again, soft notes wafted behind her. Again, she breathed deeply and sang her first note.

Takatsuki wasted no time. Her hands were on Rize immediately. Rize stiffened a moment, her sound faltering.

“Don’t mind me,” Takatsuki laughed, her fingers sinking a little more deeply into Rize’s waist. “Keep it up.”

It wasn’t as though Rize wasn’t used to being touched. Having a teacher put hands on you to see if your body was tense was hardly an uncommon practice in teaching voice. Most of them _asked_ first, though. A simple, “Is it okay for me to touch you?” would have sufficed. Takatsuki didn’t seem to bother with such proprieties.

Also, her hands seemed just a tad low—shouldn’t she be feeling Rize’s ribcage instead of her waist? That was where one could feel the expansion of the lungs, after all.

“Stop,” Takatsuki said. The piano halted, and Rize stopped with it. She thought Takatsuki might take her hands off now. She didn’t. Instead, she gripped Rize’s shoulders tightly, shaking them a little back and forth. Rize grounded herself: Takatsuki’s grip was steel-like. Odd, for someone so delicate looking.

“You know,” Takatsuki said, head just managing to peek over Rize’s shoulder. “You’re rather tense. And here I thought, when you walked onstage, ‘this is a woman with confidence.’ Was I wrong?”

Takatsuki’s smile was a little devious, challening; Rize could hear it in her voice. She smiled back. “You were absolutely right.”

The audience chuckled a little.

“Well, you need to learn to relax a bit as you sing. You’re managing the high notes well, but you’re a little wobbly at the ends of phrases. Do you know why?”

Rize raised her eyebrows. “Why?”

“Because,” Takatsuki said playfully, shaking her back and forth again. “You’re just! So! Stiff!”

The audience laughed. Rize paid it no mind.

“Start the first phrase again. And try to keep your body relaxed and open throughout. Don’t mind me; I’ll just be helping in my own little way.”

Rize sang again. She expected Takatsuki to shake her. Instead, though, she gripped Rize’s shoulders and rubbed deep circles into them. Rize felt her voice wobble.

“Relax,” Takatsuki whispered close to her ear. “You’re holding so much tension in these beautiful shoulders.”

Rize felt her face flush—but she had too much dignity to let it interrupt her song. Takatsuki seemed to sense the change though. She chuckled quietly, so that the audience couldn’t hear. A hand moved down Rize’s back: Rize was hyper aware of it, goosebumps forming under her clothes. Takatsuki’s fingers rested right below her ribcage, sinking in.

“Now,” Takatsuki said, loud enough for everyone to hear. “Breathe.”

And Rize did. It was different: a looser, fuller breath than any she could remember taking. Her next phrase sang out with full vibrato, and Rize could hear the recital hall filling up with the sound.

“Good, good!” Takatsuki said. “Stay supported.”

Takatsuki’s other hand snaked around Rize’s front, and Rize now felt her heart leap. It rested on her cheekbones, explored them gently, massaging them. It travelled lowed, drifting feather-like over Rize’s lips, resting on her jaw and rubbing circles into that, coaxing Rize to open her mouth wider. Rize’s heart thumped loudly in her chest.

“Release that jaw tension,” Takatsuki told her. “You don’t have to chew every consonant for us to understand you.”

Her hand found its way to Rize’s neck and she squeezed lightly for a moment. Then, gently, she started to massage, delicately moving Rize’s larynx back and forth.

Takatsuki’s hands were tiny and bony, with hardly a scrap of meat on them. And yet, they seemed so sensual to Rize, filling her with such warmth. Was this just her? Just Takatsuki’s touch? Could the audience see it? Rize twitched at the thought.

“Still so tense!” Takatsuki said. “Just relax into it.”

Her hand gripped Rize’s side, and the other traveled down her throat. It rested on Rize’s sternum a moment, and Rize could feel all the vibrations of her chest. And that—that wasn’t abnormal. Her own teacher had done as much, telling Rize to feel for resonance in the chest area for the lower notes.

But Takatsuki’s hand drifted just a bit lower, fingers dancing over the top of Rize’s neckline. A low neckline. Rize twitched again, thinking of how close Takatuski’s hands were to her breasts, how easy it would be for her to feel her way into Rize’s dress.

“Keep singing,” Takatsuki told her cheerfully.

And Rize could tell right then, right from that tone—but this was a game she could play and enjoy, so she did just that. The next line of music soared out of her, ringing in her own ears.

“Lower, breathe lower,” Takatsuki told her, raising her voice to be heard over Rize’s singing. The hand around Rize’s ribcage gripped a little. She whispered, “And spread your legs a bit farther apart.”

Rize was certain the flush on her face was visible to the audience. But she did as Takatsuki said, widening her stance. The next phrase, the climax of the piece, burst out of her. Everything was a blur for a moment. She could hear the piano, hear her own voice bouncing off the back of the recital hall, hear Takatsuki shouting over her singing, telling her to support—but it all seemed to fade away.

Instead, the only thing that seemed to exist in that moment were Takatsuki’s hands, burning hot through Rize’s black dress.

 

* * *

 

When they were alone, in some convenient corner of the college building, Eto’s smile was every bit as purposeful as Rize had imagined it was up onstage.

“You’re rather free with your hands, aren’t you Ms. Takatsuki?” Rize asked, voice low.

Takatsuki grinned, adjusting her glasses. “Your voice won’t really sing if your body isn’t relaxed,” she replied airily. “And, you know, sometimes the best thing to get it to relax is some distraction. Anyway…”

Eto stepped closer, a hand resting on Rize’s cheek. Rize grinned. She really _was_ as forward as Rize had thought—how refreshing.

“Anyway,” Takatsuki repeated, voice lower. “You have such a wonderful body, Rize. It’s such a waste for you to be so tense all the time.”

Rize leaned in, letting her eyes close as their lips met. Their arms wrapped around each other, bodies pressing together. She could feel Takatsuki’s skin underneath her shirt, feel Takatsuki’s hands exploring her without an ounce of the careful restraint she’d shown onstage. In an instant, every muscle in Rize’s body loosened.

She sank into Takatsuki, limp with pleasure.

**Author's Note:**

> Btw, the song I envisioned Rize singing for the master class is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T899yAHgDI
> 
> Anyway I wrote this in like, a few hours this morning at 4am, and I'm sure when I look at it later it'll become one of those life choices I regret. Hope you enjoyed it!


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